Conventional banknote handling systems used for a deposit process are configured to: escrow banknotes, which have been deposited through an inlet thereof, in an escrow unit thereof; feed the banknotes escrowed in the escrow unit; and store the fed banknotes in a storing unit thereof. As examples of this type of banknote handling system, there are known banknote handling systems that have been disclosed in JP 10-283524 and JP 8-7146. In each of the banknote handling systems that have been disclosed in these documents, there is provided an escrow unit only for escrowing the deposited banknotes until the banknotes are stored in the storing unit.
However, in each of the banknote handling systems that have been disclosed in these documents, the provision of the escrow unit having a structure other than that of the storing unit causes the size of the system to become larger as well as the control of the system to become complicated.
In addition, the capacity of the escrow unit of each of the banknote handling systems disclosed in the above documents is smaller than those of the storing unit and the inlet. Thus, in each of the banknote handling systems disclosed in the above documents, the deposit-process operation has to be divided into a plurality of deposit processes when the number of banknotes to be deposited is larger than the capacity of the escrow unit. In this case, after the banknotes deposited by the first deposit process are stored from the escrow unit into the storing unit, the banknotes deposited by the second deposit process are taken into the escrow unit. At this stage, when there are inputted a certain instruction requesting that the banknotes should be returned, the banknotes deposited by the second deposit process can be mechanically returned from the escrow unit, but the banknotes deposited by the first deposit process cannot be mechanically returned because the banknotes deposited by the first deposit process have been already stored in the storing unit. Thus, in order for the banknotes deposited by the first deposit process to be returned, the operator has to perform some manual operations for taking the banknotes from the storing unit, for example. As a result, the operator has to perform the manual operations in order to cope with the instruction requesting that the banknotes should be returned. This increases the operator's burden, which is a problem.
In addition, in each of the banknote handling systems disclosed in the above documents, a storing unit for reconciliation, which is used in a reconciliation process for the deposited banknotes, is provided besides the storing unit. This causes the size of the system to be larger as well as the control of the system to be complicated, which is a problem.
In addition, in a conventional banknote handling system used for a deposit process, when banknotes stored in a storing unit are subject to a reconciliation process, the banknotes are moved into another vacant storing unit, and the banknotes are returned to the original storing unit after the reconciliation process for all the banknotes is finished. As one example of this type of banknote handling system, there is known a banknote handling system disclosed in JP 2003-141599.
In this banknote handling system, two recognition processes are performed for a reconciliation of banknotes stored in a banknote storing unit. The first recognition process is performed for all the banknotes stored in the banknote storing unit. The second recognition process is performed only for banknotes that could not be recognized during the first recognition process because of a certain transport error or the like. Thus, a transport path for the reconciliation process in this banknote handling system is formed in such a manner that all the banknotes stored in the banknote storing unit can go through a recognition unit and banknotes that could not be recognized during the first recognition process can go through the recognition unit again.
However, in this banknote handling system, the recognition unit is provided away from the banknote storing unit. Thus, the transport path for the reconciliation process is very long. As a result, in proportion to the length of the transport path, a time required for the reconciliation process is unavoidably made longer, which is a problem.
In addition, in this banknote handling system, when a certain transport error is recognized by the first recognition process, the banknote handling operation is stopped. Herein, the transport error is caused more often when the transport path is longer. Thus, the banknote handling operation is stopped more often when the transport path is longer. As a result, in proportion to the number of times the banknote handling operation is stopped, a time required for the reconciliation process is unavoidably made longer, which is a problem.
In addition, in a conventional banknote handling system used for a deposit process, a first recognition process is performed for put-in banknotes by means of a recognition unit, and only banknotes for which the first recognition process has been successfully performed are escrowed in an escrow unit. Then, when there are received a certain instruction for deposit confirmation, the banknotes escrowed in the escrow unit are fed out and stored in a storing unit via the recognition unit. At this stage, a second recognition process is performed for the banknotes fed out from the escrow unit by means of the recognition unit, and only banknotes for which the second recognition process has been successfully performed are stored in the storing unit. Banknotes for which the first or second recognition process has been unsuccessfully performed are treated as reject banknotes, and are stacked in a reject unit. As one example of this type of banknote handling system, there is known a banknote handling system disclosed in JP 7-282316.
However, in this banknote handling system, banknotes for which the second recognition process has been unsuccessfully performed are treated as reject banknotes, even if the first recognition process has been successfully performed for the banknotes. In addition, in this banknote handling system, a third recognition process is performed for the banknotes for which the second recognition process has been unsuccessfully performed. The third recognition process is repeated until all the banknotes for which the second recognition process has been unsuccessfully performed are successfully recognized. Therefore, the number of banknotes treated as reject banknotes is increased, and processes for the reject banknotes are performed more often. As a result, a time required for all the banknotes escrowed in the escrow unit to be stored in the storing unit is unavoidably made longer, which is a problem.